Somebody’s Trying to Collect Every Single Copy of ‘Speed’ on VHS

Like most people, Ryan Beitz has a dream. And like many people, he's made it his life quest to chase down that dream and make it reality. Unlike almost everybody else on the planet, Beitz's dream is to own every single copy of the movie 'Speed' on VHS.

His website, the World Speed Project, chronicles his admirable, if a little baffling, quest. And as he told Vice, the whole thing started as a joke because he didn't have money to buy friends and family members Christmas gifts. So he'd give them copies of Keanu Reeves' 1994 movie on VHS, because other people were literally tossing them into the trash.

"I realized it was really fascinating to have that many, like, same copies of a thing," he said. "What really cemented it was when I went to another pawn shop, and they had, like, 30 copies. I said, 'I’ll take them all.' They sold them to me for 11 cents a copy."

Beitz, who lives in Idaho, estimates he's collected around 550 copies of 'Speed' on VHS (as well as a few on laser disc) so far, but he told Vice, "I haven’t counted in a while 'cause who really cares?"

The project started on Kickstarter. Well, actually the Kickstarter campaign has to do with getting Beitz's bus decked out like the one in 'Speed.' Here's a video all about that.

While he acknowledges that owning every single copy of 'Speed' on VHS may not be humanly possible, Beitz doesn't seem too concerned. Plus, he refuses to spend more than $4 for a copy, so that may impede the goal of completing his collection.

But as long as there are thrift shops, garage sales and grandmas with VHS players out there, he may stand a chance. "People always go, 'Dude how many of these things are you going to get?'” Beitz told Vice. "And I'm like, 'All of them, duh.' Duh, indeed.